Business Roundtable Report

8/13/2019 Business Roundtable Report

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MA YORJA C KS ONS

BUS IN ES S

ROUN DT A B LE

June 2013

CONCERNS& RECOMMENDATIONS


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Edna B. Jackson, Mayor

Carolyn Bell

Tom Bordeaux

Van R. Johnson, II

Mary Osborne

John Hall

Mary Ellen Sprague

Estella Edwards Shabazz

Tony Thomas

Post 1 At-Large

Post 2 At-Large

District 1

District 2

District 3

District 4

District 5

District 6

MAYOR& ALDERMAN

CITYSTAFF

Taffanye YoungBureau Chief

Community & Economic Development Bureau

Tom StephensManagement Services Coordinator

Community & Economic Development Bureau

Margaret WilliamsChief of Staff, Office of Assistant City Manager

Administrative & Community Services

CITYMANAGERStephanie S. Cutter


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BUSINESSROUNDTABLEPARTICIPANTS

Alderwoman Carolyn BellCity Council Representative

Greg Parker, The Parker CompaniesChairman, Business Roundtable

Jennifer AbshireAbshire Public Relations

Ken BiancoJCB North America

Chris BlaineBarnett Educ/DeRenne Ave. Bus. Assoc.

Dana BraunCreative Coast, Inc.

Jim ConeGeorgia Power

Sylvester FormeyVanguard Companies

Erwin FriedmanSavannah Land Company

Brynn GrantSEDA/World Trade Center Savannah

Karen GuinnJCB North America

Bill HubbardSavannah Chamber

Brett HulmeSav. Reg. Central Labor Council

Kevin JacksonEnviroVac

Roy JacksonJackson Brothers Enterprises

Corey JonesLucky Savannah

Ruel Joyner24e/Downtown Bus. Assoc.

Kevin LawverRails Machine, LLC

Pat MathisPat Mathis Construction

Chris MillerIlluminomics

Diana MorrisonAdvertising Specialty Services

Mary Nestor-HarperMJNH Consulting

Michael OwensTourism Leadership Council

Benjamin Polote, Sr.The Polote Corporation

James RilesRiles & Assoc. Financial Services

Paul RobinsonPell Properties, LLC

Trip TollisonSavannah EconomicDevelopment Authority

Dwana TurnerE.P.I.C. Consulting

Mike VaquerVaquer Firm

Henry Wilfong, Jr.National Assoc. of SmallDisadvantaged Businesses


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TABLEOFCONTENTS

Page 2

Page 4

Page 5

Page 8

Page 9

Page 11

Page 13

Page 15

Page 18

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

1. EXECUTIVESUMMARY

2. VISION

2. PROCESS

3. KEYCONCERNS

4. CONCERNS& RECOMMENDATIONS

COMMUNICATION

CUSTOMERSERVICE

PROCESSES

ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT

5. SUMMARY& NEXTSTEPS

6. APPENDIX

DASHBOARD

ROUNDTABLERESEARCH


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EXECUTIVESUMMARY

In July 2012, Mayor Edna Jackson assembled a group of business owners to serve as the rst Mayors

Business Roundtable. The Roundtable was formed in response to frustraons expressed on the part of

the business community. Rather than having a defensive posture, the Mayor pursued an open and

collaborave approach to address the concerns of business owners. There was a willingness within

the business community to parcipate when called upon by the Mayor, and business leaders began

working with City sta to idenfy local services and policies that impact businesses.

In addion to assessing local services, the Roundtable undertook research to idenfy best pracces

and key elements to make the City of Savannah the best city in which to do business.

Opportunies for improvement were idened in four key areas; Communicaons, Customer Service,

Processes and Economic Development. We want to recognize that the City has made eorts toimprove services to businesses including automaon of the perming process for new developments;

creaon of City liaisons to assist business owners and developers with navigang the development

process, the development of a business assistance directory and the creaon of a review team to

assess and make improvements to informaon regarding business assistance on the City of

Savannahs website.

Major themes that arose during Roundtable meengs include:

Establishing a base line for how City services funcon currently so that the City can measure its

progress.

Creang a dashboard to measure and quickly communicate progress to the public.

Maintaining a connecon with the business community by assembling the Roundtable on an

annual basis to review progress and revisit business concerns and recommendaons.

Establishing a sub-commiee of the Roundtable to serve as a sounding board to lter strategies

and oer feedback to City sta as they implement improvements.

In closing, this report represents the culminaon of the eorts of business leaders who volunteered

their me to work collaboravely with the City. Local businesses are an important part of the

community and have a vested interest in the citys growth and prosperity. This report presents the

concerns and recommendaons of the Mayors Business Roundtable. The Roundtable worked hard to

ensure that the recommendaons provided were achievable. It is the hope of the Roundtable that

the Mayor and Alderman will give strong consideraon to the ideas put forth and make every eort to

implement the recommendaons wherever feasible.


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THECITYOFSAVANNAHWILLBETHEBESTCITYINWHICHTO

DOBUSINESS.

VISION


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Mayor Edna Jacksons VisionIn her 2012 inaugural address , Mayor Edna Jackson commied to becoming more responsive to theneeds of local businesses. Her objecve was to engage local businesses in a collaborave eort to

improve the City of Savannahs services to the business community.

In an eort to meet this objecve she established the Mayors Business Roundtable. The Business

Roundtables purpose was to provide a forum for producve discussion on the issues, ideas and

plans for the future of Savannahs small business community.

Mayor Jackson appointed Alderman Carol Bell as City Council liaison to the Business Roundtable.

Local business owner, Greg Parker was asked to serve as Business Roundtable Chairperson, with

sta support provided by the City of Savannah.

Convening the Mayors Business RoundtableThe Mayor invited business leaders to the rst Business Roundtable meeng in July 2012 to

determine how Savannah could improve its services. The rst meeng of the Mayors Business

Roundtablehad over 25 business owners in aendance. At that meeng, the parcipants compiled

a list of issues and concerns that they felt impede the business process and began to oer

recommendaons to address those areas of concern.

Based on the feedback received, the list of concerns developed by the parcipants was categorized

into four key areas: Communicaons, Customer Service, Processes and Economic Development.

Under each category, addional areas were idened. Communicaon/Markeng of the Citysbusiness services and beer internal communicaon and coordinaon between City departments

fell under Communicaons. The need for customer service training improvement and the

promoon of a City-wide customer service culture was a subset of Customer Service. Improving

the license and permit approval process, request for proposals and procurement processes, exisng

ordinances and more transparent regulaons and policies came under Processes. Finally, general

concerns around economic development, including the M/WBE program and engaging young

entrepreneurs, were a subset of Economic Development.As the group began to meet, the vision of the Roundtable expanded to: The City of Savannah will be

the best city in which to do business.

PROCESS


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CommunicaonHow the City shares informaon internally and externally.

Customer ServiceThe Citys culture on how sta interacts with cizens, customers andeach other.

ProcessesAnquated and inecient ow of systems and processes that moveinformaon to the next step.

Economic DevelopmentHow do we dene it as a community and what role does everyone

play in its success?

KEYCONCERNS


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Concerns

The Business Roundtable inially focused on communicaons, including the Citys communicaon of

services to external customers as well as internal communicaon among sta.

Concerns regarding external communicaons largely centered around the percepon that the City

does not clearly communicate its vision, funcons, and requirements to the business community.

Secondly, there was a concern that the City was not markeng its own services and successes to the

external community. The Business Roundtable idened this lack of external markeng as a barrier

to business recruitment and economic investment.

Regarding internal communicaons, the Business Roundtable idened poor internal communicaon

and weak inter-agency coordinaon as barriers to having a business friendly city. The Business

Roundtable was concerned about poor communicaon among City of Savannah sta and the inability

for the business community to speak directly with a decision maker. Another primary concern was

that local government and other government agencies have dierent requirements, processes, and/

or funcons. These enes do not clearly communicate with each other or the public.

Communicaon ConcernsCommunicaon/Markeng of Business Services

The Citys communicaon/markeng strategy is limited.

Connuous communicaon with the business community is not provided.

City is not communicang small wins.

Various government enes and agencies have dierent requirements and funcons which are

not communicated well.

Beer Internal Communicaon & Coordinaon

It does not appear that City sta talk to one another, resulng in mixed messages to the public.

Communicaon with sta that has decision making authority is limited.

Local governments and other agencies do not communicate or coordinate together.

COMMUNICATIONS


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Recommendations

Ranked highest to lowest priorityCommunicaon/Markeng of Business Services

1. Create a public dashboard/scorecard to track economic/business metrics and implementaon of

recommendaons.

2. Idenfy business development liaison (Sherpa) and acvely promote their role and contact

informaon.

3. Need a mul-faceted markeng plan to promote business services and incenves; and to promote

Savannah as the best city in which to do business.

4. Use 311 as the primary City phone lisng in the phone book and list departments alphabecally

rather than under bureau names, which the average person will not know or understand.

5. Ensure City data is publicly available and easily understood.

6. To improve communicaons keep messages simple, more diverse, and communicate more oen.

7. City Economic Development Director should include markeng as part of the posions focus.

8. Use local businesses to tell the Citys success stories.

9. Provide beer markeng of Development Services Workshops.

Beer Internal Communicaon & Coordinaon

1. Idenfy all exisng economic development enes in Savannah and their missions/funcons.

2. Provide a user friendly City chart that idenes sta and their responsibilies.

3. Convene internal departments and clearly dene their roles, then engage the outside

organizaons in geng on one page.

COMMUNICATIONS


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Concerns

Customer service was an issue that the Business Roundtable members spent considerable me

discussing, parcularly in regards to how customer service can signicantly impact a Citys business

development culture.

Concerns centered around training and facilitang a culture change within the organizaon. Business

Roundtable parcipants recognized that poor customer service could be a funcon of individual

behavior, a lack of high-quality, tailored training and/or a poor understanding of how customer

service impacts the success of businesses in the City.

Customer Service ConcernsCustomer Service Training Improvement

Exisng customer service training is ineecve and/or too infrequent.

Exisng sta includes employees who are not customer-friendly.

Sta does not recognize the public/cizens as their customer/clients.

Sta understanding of the fundamentals of business growth and development, and its importance

to the City, is inadequate.

Promote a City-wide Customer Service Culture

Cizen-clients are not always treated with respect.

Communicaon is not always polite and helpful.

Sta is not always available to assist the public/cizens.

CUSTOMERSERVICE


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Recommendations

Ranked highest to lowest priorityCustomer Service Training Improvement

1. City should assess prospecve and current sta for relaonal competencies, i.e. ability to

manage internal thoughts and feelings (self) as well as the interpersonal/social environment

(relaonal) challenges.

2. Provide customer service training that highlights the economic impact of business choosing to

locate in Savannah.

3. Provide customer service training by professional disciplines so that sta can see its relevance and

learn how to apply it to their roles.

4. Create a mantra for City employees that encompasses how they will deliver customer service,

i.e. My job is to remove obstacles or My paycheck is directly related to how well I serve my

customers.

5. Create an incenve program for front line City sta to develop soluons, change behaviors and x

problems (similar to Citys former Eureka employee program).

Promote a City-wide Customer Service Culture

1.

Use mystery shoppers, cizen-clients, to test customer service and address idened

deciencies.

2. Services delivery should immediately be followed up by a short exit survey sent electronically, to

capture what the customers experience was like.

3. Move to E-Government for every service possiblemaking payments, compleng applicaons,

accessing informaon. This will free people from having to make a call/visit an oce and free

sta to focus on crical and/or non-roune situaons.

4. Provide beer promoon of the 311 number to the business community.

5. Build an eecve business survey and send it out annually to all business license holders.

CUSTOMERSERVICE


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Concerns

Inecient and convoluted processes were idened as a major concern of businesses. Poorly

communicated processes negavely impact business start up, licensing and perming, contract

bidding and business development acvies in Savannah.

Major processes idened as most crical include the business licensing process, site plan review and

perming processes, zoning review and variance approval processes. The minority or women owned

business enterprise cercaon process, as well as high level regulatory or legislave processes

including local, state and federal governments also need further aenon.

Processes ConcernsLicenses & Approval Processes

The steps in the various business approval processes are unclear, not transparent. If steps were

clearer it would not require an actual person to explain it all.

Have to go to mulple oces to obtain various approvals, i.e. tax cercate/licensing.

It is unclear whether City sta feedback and direcons are requirements of the law or just

suggesons/recommendaons, causing businesses and/or developers to be confused abut

what acons they are required to do.

RFP & Procurement Processes

Bid requests are changed or pulled at the last minute cosng vendors me and money in

preparing their bid proposals.

Clarity is lacking regarding purchasing policies and/or pracces related to: local parcipaon;

M/WBE parcipaon; and using the database of suppliers to idenfy companies and skill sets.

Statutes, Regulaons & Policies

Some exisng regulaons/policies are a barrier to business.

The inventory tax is burdensome and pushing businesses out of Savannah, parcularly

manufacturing.

The impact of Unied Zoning Ordinance on businesses is not really understood.

The role/purpose of the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) in relaon to the City of

Savannah is unclear.

Historic Review Board recommendaons and decisions seem arbitrary.

PROCESSES


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Recommendations

Ranked highest to lowest priorityLicenses & Approval Processes

1. Create a Business Advocate/Ombudsmen posion with the weight of City Managers oce to

walk business customers through the maze of requirements or eliminate the maze.

2. Develop a Doing Business Guide with simple narrave that idenes resources and provides a

checklist or ow chart that maps out business processes (starng/ expanding a business,

perming, site development, etc.).

3. Create a one-stop shop (facility), with City licensing and development approval processes under

one roof.

4. Gather baseline data on current length of me it takes to complete exisng processes; then set

goals for reducing the me (perming, zoning changes, inspecons, etc.).

5. Get all processes set up online, i.e. bill pay, compleng applicaons, requesng services, etc.

6. Consider co-locaon of City and County business services where feasible.

7. Provide claricaon for the end user on what funcons fall under the City and what funcons fall

under other governmental bodies County, MPC, State, etc.

8. Host monthly sessions with City and related sta at one locaon, where business people can drop

in to ask quesons/get answers about projects and processes.

RFP & Procurement Processes

1. Assess purpose and eecveness of programs, processes and vendor lists and make

improvements to all.

2. Purchasing needs to communicate frequently with companies to advise of bid changes and only

open projects the City intends to undertake.

Statutes, Regulaons & Policies

1. Consider abolishing the Citys inventory tax and the excise tax in the County.

2. Idenfy regulaons that are the biggest barriers to business development (especially food and

beverages) and make modicaons wherever possible.

3.

Train City sta and test to ensure they are fully knowledgeable of all regulaons that relate totheir work and able to clearly communicate them to the public.

4. Say Yes to business ideas unless your regulaons clearly say no. Make Yes the default.

5. Assess the role of the City versus MPC and determine if there is duplicaon or whether both are

needed.

6. Survey or shadow businesses as they navigate the zoning/MPC process, in order to idenfy

barriers and opportunies for improvements.

7. Provide fee rebates/refunds when economy is slow and businesses are making less prot.

PROCESSES


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Concerns

Economic development is an area with a broad denion and scope of work. The major concerns

idened were the lack of a clear delineaon of dues and responsibilies among area agencies and

how we dene economic development as a community.

Economic development concerns covered a wide range of issues including comprehensive economic

development planning, workforce development, entrepreneurship, minority and women owned

business development, internaonal trade, and industry specic issues in elds such as

manufacturing, technology and service industries.

Many of the concerns idened by the Business Roundtable were also issues that came up in later

research ndings and reports from the Naonal League of Cies and other cies across the country.

These concerns are not unique to Savannah, such as a lack of cohesive vision, workforce skills being

mismatched with industry needs and procedural barriers to small business growth.

Economic Development Concerns

Economic Development

Economic development & small business is not well dened in the City of Savannah.

The City lacks a comprehensive Economic Development Plan that addresses issues involving the

overall economy (local, state, naonal, internaonal) as well as specic sectors.

Exisng workforce skills do not match the needs of prospecve employers.

The Citys economic development goals and progress are not clearly communicated or reported.

M/WBE Program

M/WBEs need addional training and development.

Opportunies for M/WBE business development are limited.

There is an insucient number of qualied M/WBEs in certain elds.

Pracce of solicing involvement of unrelated M/WBEs into City bids to achieve M/WBE goals.

Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

There is not enough encouragement of creave & technology-based start-ups.

Young entrepreneurs have limited involvement/engagement in tradional business networks or

City eorts.

ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT


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Recommendations

Ranked highest to lowest priorityEconomic Development

1. City needs to develop a comprehensive economic development plan that arculates a clear vision

for economic development in the city.

2. Consider Best Pracces of top U.S. cies when planning for Savannah and pursue feasible

strategies locally.

3. Develop a scorecard and track metrics for economic development in the city.

4.

City needs to bring all City related economic development enes (EDD, SEC, SDRA) together toclarify funcons, roles and coordinaon and to minimize overlap.

5. Need a one stop locaon for business capital needs, nancial understanding and business

assistance.

M/WBE Program

1. Ensure that inclusiveness and diversity are goals of the Citys economic development eorts.

2. Oer training to build business skills of minority and women -owned businesses and tailor it to

meet the needs of these businesses.

3. Develop business incubators.

4. Create a beer veng process to ensure companies are in fact cered M/WBEs and that

M/WBEs have a history of performing the type of work idened in the bid.

Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

1. Idenfy or develop mentoring and networks for new entrepreneurs and businesses.

2. Idenfy local businesses with computer/ technology jobs and share job openings with area

colleges so graduates will know of them and move to or stay in Savannah.

3. Promote a more computer-skilled workforce.

4. Consider developing business incubators and loan programs for high-tech businesses.

ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT


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SummaryThe Mayors Business Roundtable was tasked with convening representaves of the business

community to gather concerns and recommendaons of business owners and to report back to Mayor

Edna Jackson by June 2013. It was the Roundtables goal to meet this deadline while providing clear,

concise and feasible recommendaons that could be implemented to improve the environment for

businesses in the City of Savannah.

It is the hope that the implementaon of these recommendaons, wherever feasible, will help the City

to aain the Roundtables stated vision to be the best City in which to do business.

Next Steps Presentaon to City Council

City Manager Review of Roundtable Report

Feedback from City on Recommendaons to pursue

Convening of Roundtable Sub-Commiee to serve as sounding board for City sta

Annual Mayors Business Roundtable Review

SUMMARY& NEXTSTEPS


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APPENDIX


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DASHBOARD

One tool for displaying dened performance measurements or program implementaon is with a

dashboard. A dashboard collects data pertaining to key performance indicators and publishes all dataand metrics succinctly and clearly. Organizaons with dashboards can use the informaon for mar-

keng, performance enhancement, or performance management. A dashboard provides an organiza-

on with a tool to track its progress toward reaching idened objecves. Several examples are pre-

sented below.


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ROUNDTABLERESEARCH

Naonal League of CiesEconomic Development Trends Focusing on exisng and homegrown businesses.

Improving communicaons with the business community and reexamining how municipal

regulaons and processes help or hinder business and how they can best meet local business

needs.

Using foreign direct investment strategies as a tool to spur economic growth, parcularly in

smaller and medium-sized communies that may not insncvely be on the radar of internaonal

investors.

Leveraging the internet and social media to achieve economic development goals and to build

connecons to internaonal companies.

Supporngsmall business trade opportuniesby tapping local and regional service providers who

have experse, industry networks and access to the business community.

Leveraging polical leadership to elevate the legimacy of immigrant entrepreneurs and small

businessesin the work of local government and to improve trust between immigrant businesses

and government.

Partnering with higher educaon, including community colleges, to aract and

support internaonal students. According to the Associaon of Internaonal Educators,

internaonal students aending U.S. colleges and universies contributed $18.78 billion to the

U.S. economy during the 2009-

2010 academic year.

Employers are looking for higher-skilled workers, oen with some post-secondary educaon to ll

more specialized jobs. As such, an unskilled workforce and lack of mechanisms to upgrade worker

skills will negavely impact a citys ability to retain and grow businesses and aract new

investment. A citys home-grown economic compeveness is also directly ed to the skills and

abilies of its workforce, as these are the individuals that start businesses and drive future

innovaon.

Internaonal City/County Management Associaon and Naonal League of CiesCity & County Economic Development SurveyResearch ndings suggest that local policies that have the greatest impact on small business growth,dened as the growth in the number of new establishments under 99 employees, are providing

regulatory assistance and creang a supporve culture between the local public and private

sectors. Regulatory assistance includes one-stop shops and streamlining perming/zoning

processes. Creang a supporve culture means providing avenues for local small businesses to

engage with each other and to be heard by policy makers.

An example of how the City of Savannah is creang a culture of small business engagement is the

Mayors Business Roundtable, Mayors Small Business Conference and other forums.
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Naonal League of Cies & Internaonal Economic Development CouncilThe Role of Local Elected Ocials in Economic Development10 Things You Should Know

Your local economic strengths and weaknesses. A stronger understanding of your communitys

economic prole will help you create a realisc vision and strategies for economic development.

Your communitys place in the broader regional economy. With a rmer grasp of how your

community ts into the broader region, youre beer prepared to work with other jurisdicons to

share responsibility for regional economic success.

Your communitys economic development vision and goals. Local elected ocials can play a key

role in building consensus for a vision and goals that provide clear direcon for local economic

development.

Your communitys strategy to aain its goals. A strategic approach means linking economic

development goals to specic acvies, allocang a budget and sta to these acvies and

evaluang performance based on measurable outcomes.

Connecons between economic development and other city policies. When craing economic

development policies, it is essenal to consider how other city policies (e.g., transportaon or

housing) aect your economic development goals.

Your regulatory environment. Your communitys regulatory process should allow for mely,

reliable and transparent resoluon of issues facing businesses, while sll remaining true to your

long-term economic development vision.

Your local economic development stakeholders and partners. Local ocials should think

strategically on a project-by-project basis about who needs to be involved, the resources they

bring to the table, and what it will take to get them engaged.

The needs of your local business community. Local ocials can help create an environment that

supports the growth and expansion of local businesses, primarily by opening lines of

communicaon.

Your communitys economic development message. Citys need a clear, accurate and compelling

message that reects the local vision and that helps ensure broad support for economic

development projects undertaken by the city and its partners.

Your economic development sta. Local elected ocials will be more eecve in leading

economic development acvies to the extent that they forge strong relaonships with sta

members who work on these issues on a daily basis.


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Naonal League of CiesBest Pracces Case StudiesAsheville, NCThe greater Asheville, NC region is focused on supporng its next generaon of businesses by

providing support programs tailor-made for the areas assets and creang the culture and

connecons for entrepreneurs to thrive. The region provides important lessons for local governments

pursuing entrepreneurship eorts, specically the importance of having the right sta and partners,

playing the role of connector and doing your homework before creang new programs.

Longmont, COOver the last six years, the City of Longmont, Colorado, has strengthened its economic base by

providing local businesses with a variety of resources that improve their compeveness andstability. The history and pracces of the Longmont Economic Gardening Iniave provide lessons for

communies seeking to grow their local economies by nurturing local entrepreneurs.

The Roundtable encourages the City of Savannah to explore opportunies to improve its

compeveness, such as eliminaon of the inventory tax.

Scosdale, AZScosdale, has partnered with Arizona State University (ASU), to establish the SkySong Center, a

mulpurpose development designed to incubate and accelerate entrepreneurial startups from across

the globe and within the university by providing a one-stop-shop for budding entrepreneurs and

startups. The plans for SkySong were introduced aer two previous plans for the area were scrapped,and a lease and infrastructure agreement was worked out between ASU and Scosdale.

Seale, WAThe City of Seale has recently refocused its economic development to facilitate connecons, provide

on-the-ground services to businesses needing assistance and advocate for policies and service

changes as appropriate to improve Seales business climate.

The city created business advocates in its Oce of Economic Development (OED) to help businesses

navigate government processes and connect to resources. Interacons with individual businesses are

recorded and tracked by sta, ensuring proper follow-up and idencaon of systemac and

recurring problems.Addionally, OED hosts a well-aended, informal monthly networking event so the local business

community can connect with key polical, departmental and economic development stakeholders.

Seale also formed the new Citywide Business Advocacy Team (CBAT) to combat the frustraon of an

oen slow, uncoordinated and at mes contradictory perming process. CBAT is an

interdepartmental group with representaon from all of the major departments involved in

regulatory, zoning and economic development issues.


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Best Places for Business & CareersForbesNumerous rankings, lists and metrics exist which idenfy the top places for business, careers, small

business, entrepreneurship and other areas. Each year Forbes publishes their list of the Best Placesfor Business & Careersa list on which the City of Savannah aims to be ranked at the top.

The Forbes ranking looks at the 200 largest metropolitan stascal areas (MSA) in the U.S. and

considers twelve metrics relang to past and projected job growth, business and living costs, income

growth, educaonal aainment and projected economic growth. It also factors in quality of life issues

like crime rates, cultural and recreaonal opportunies and net migraon paerns, as well as the

number of highly ranked colleges in the area. Numerous sub-areas are idened and ranked

including; Cost of Doing Business, Economic Growth Projected, Educaonal Aainment, Income

Growth Rank, Job Growth Projected Rank, Net Migraon Rank.

Cies that ranked highest on the list typically had a strong university or two, provided a highly

educated workforce, a low cost of doing business, low crime rate, and a higher than average net

migraon.

The Savannah metro area came in ranked 145 out of 200 in 2013. While detailed data used to

determine the areas ranking is not published, the known criteria and published rankings allow for a

good understanding of what is required for a metro area to be compeve.

Metrics such as job growth, net migraon, projected economic growth, and income growth are to agreat extent causal in nature, meaning local policies and pracces do not directly impact their

trajectory. However, the other metrics used by Forbes, such as cost of business and living, educaon,

and quality of life factors such as crime, culture, and recreaon, have a direct causal relaonship with

the other economic growth measures. A focus on improving measures in these areas could have a

net posive impact on job, business, and income growth in Savannah.

Rank Metro Area Cost of Business Rank Job Growth Rank Education Rank

1 Provo UT 33 30 28

2 Raleigh NC 29 15 13

3 Fort Collins, CO 66 23 6

4 Des Moines, IA 37 35 54

5 Denver CO 130 45 18

6 Ogden UT 27 39 73

7 Lincoln NE 9 28 39

8 Dallas TX 160 18 43

9 Austin TX 165 3 16

10 Nashville TN 32 41 79

145 Savannah, GA 87 101 99


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Most Business Friendly CiesThumbtack SurveyThumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauman Foundaon, has released the results

from the second annual Thumbtack.com Small Business Survey. The study collected data from more

than 7,000 small business owners and oers direct insight into how business owners view their local

and state business environments, what they value, and what they need for a desirable business

environment.

Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com comments, "Some 7,000 businesses owners across the

country have told us that they care about a lot more than just taxesfor most businesses, simple

licensing regulaons and helpful training programs are even more important to their success."

Some of the key ndings include:

Professional licensing requirements were 30 percent more important than taxes in determining a

state's overall business-friendliness, conrming the ndings from last year's study. Furthermore,

this year's research revealed that 40 percent of U.S. small businesses are subject to licensing regu-

laons by mulple jurisdicons or levels of government.

Utah was the top rated state, and Ausn, TX was the top rated city. At the other end of the spec-

trum, Rhode Island and Newark, NJ were the lowest rated state and city.

The ease of obtaining health insurance was an important factor for many businesses. One-third of

small business owners rated obtaining and keeping health insurance as "Very Dicult," versus

only 6 percent who rated it "Very Easy."

Small businesses were relavely unconcerned with tax rates more than half of small business

owners felt they pay about the right share of taxes.

The top ranked cies for small business according to Thumbtacks survey were:

1. Ausn, Texas

2. Virginia Beach, Virginia

3. Houston, Texas

4. Colorado Springs, Colorado

5.

San Antonio, Texas

6. Nashville, Tennessee

7. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas

8. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina


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Elevate AusnRecognizing that small businesses are the foundaon of our local economy, the City of Ausnembarked on a City-wide project with a mission to encourage organizaonal changes that establish

Ausn as the Best Managed City with regard to small business development.

ElevateAusn: taking small business to new heights began when the City Council, the Small Business

Development Program (SBDP) and the Ausn Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) invited 50 small

business owners to a summit to share their percepons of how the City serves the needs of area

entrepreneurs. Based on this feedback, the City Council passed a resoluon requiring the City Manager

to develop policy recommendaons. These recommendaons were to take into account a review of

the current City policies, programs and procedures serving small businesses, as well as the input from

the summit.

Project GoalsFollowing the City Council resoluon, the City Manager tasked SBDP, a division of the Economic

Growth and Redevelopment Services Oce (EGRSO), with leading ElevateAusn. SBDP developed the

following project goals:

Achieving savings and eciencies for both small business owners and City government

Enhancing City processes & procedures to facilitate the opening, operaon & expansion of small

businesses

Creang an overall environment that values the economic and cultural role of small businesses

City of Ausn Working TogetherWith these goals in mind, SBDP met with the department directors who work closely with small

businesses and reviewed relevant feedback from the summit. The departments most aected by the

feedback were directed to select two acons -projects or organizaonal changes -to put in place in

the next 12-18 months.

Eight departments presented nearly 20 acons to take in the next year to respond to the concerns of

the small business community. Acons chosen focused on fostering coordinaon among departments,

streamlining processes for business owners and providing premier customer service.

Responding to the CommunityIn the next phase of the project, the departments rened their acon items and developed plans for

implementaon. A report was then generated from these plans, illustrang how the City is now

addressing the needs of business owners. The highlight of this phase of the project was a community

presentaon where the departments presented their chosen acons to the original small business

owner focus group and City sta.
http://austintexas.gov/department/small-business-development-programhttp://austintexas.gov/department/small-business-development-programhttp://austintexas.gov/department/economic-growthhttp://austintexas.gov/department/economic-growthhttp://austintexas.gov/department/economic-growthhttp://austintexas.gov/department/economic-growthhttp://austintexas.gov/department/small-business-development-programhttp://austintexas.gov/department/small-business-development-program


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Invest RaleighVirtual One Stop ShopThrough Invest Raleigh, the Raleigh Economic Development Partnership brings a clear understandingof the resources available to assist business owners, developers and investors as part of a

coordinated economic development program. It is a partnership of the City of Raleigh Economic

Development, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA), the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the Raleigh

Area Development Authority (RADA), Raleigh Economic Development, and the Greater Raleigh

Convenon and Visitors Bureau. Invest Raleigh provides a virtual one stop shop for news, data, and

programs pertaining to economic development in Raleigh.

The Invest Raleigh website funcons as a primary markeng tool to adverse the areas high ranking

on lists from Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek and others. The site lists accolades received, local

aracons, important facts & data, relocaon and quality of life resources, hospitality informaon,

economic indicators, and access to current development acvity and development plans.

Invest Raleigh is also ulized for business recruitment, expansion, and retenon. The site lists

targeted industries and recruits retail businesses by highlighng downtown market characteriscs

and other shopping centers. It also idenes business support organizaons, highlights the local

workforce, lists commercial buildings and sites for sale or lease, provides transportaon informaon

and important maps and demographic informaon.

The site provides a central repository of informaon regarding economic incenves, including historic

preservaon incenves, the downtown loan program, Urban Progress Zone, aordable housing

nance, City/County joint venture aordable housing projects for qualied non-prot developers of

aordable housing, Community Development Block Grant, facade grants and green jobs programs.

Invest Raleigh also provides links to informaon regarding Small Business Administraon assistance,

bids and Request for Proposals with the City of Raleigh, the Small Disadvantaged Minority and

Women Owned Business (SDMWOB) Program, and links to innovaon and entrepreneurship

resources in local government, private industry, local universies and others.


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2013

Documents

Business Roundtable Report